Sports

Kenny Florian Looks Back on Biggest and Toughest Fights

0

Tweet this article

Share this article

By , Mon, June 4, 2012

MMA veteran and UFC staple Kenny Florian announced his retirement from professional competition yesterday at the TUF: Live Finale weigh-ins.

Florian will go down as one of the most recognizable, cerebral, technical and tough fighters ever to grace the Octagon, with a career legacy that speaks for itself even if it didn't include a title on his mantle. Following his announcement, Florian met with the media to speak a bit on that legacy and making the tough decision to hang up his gloves.

"I just wanted to be, really, a martial artist," said Ken-Flo (props to MMAInterviews for the video to provide the transcription). "It turned into a mixed martial artist career here with the best organization in the world and I'm just very thankful for that and all the opportunities that have come from it. (Deciding to retire) took several months of really coming to grips with it. It's been difficult, but luckily I have a lot of other opportunities and I'm glad that I'm still relatively healthy and can pursue other things."

Having fought over four weight classes against some of the best competition in the world, Florian has plenty of stories to tell, though two fights stick out the most in his mind in regards to his legacy.

"The biggest fight was probably the one with Aldo and the toughest fight was probably the B.J. Penn fight," he said.

The 36-year-old Florian retires with a career mark of 14-6, his last bout a unanimous decision defeat to Aldo, which came at UFC 136 last October.